Okay, hopefully there won't be (too much) terror, but we are hosting the Quidditch World Cup this year! Once again, Bulgaria and Ireland are facing off, this time for several weeks! Because seeking was so critical in their last showdown, the top Seekers from each side are also having their own tournament.

Both teams are recruiting players for this competitive event! Click here to join!

Every week, we will be hosting a variety of activities in #quidditch, both regular season style games and pickup style mini-games included.

The Snitch tournament will be ongoing throughout the event, and will be very similar to the tournament in previous years. If you want to Seek, click here.

There will also be several "Fan Section" activities on the forum. If IRC isn't your thing, we hope you'll join us on the forum! And of course, players are encouraged to participate in these activities as well.

Each activity is a chance to earn QWC points (NOT house points!) for your team, as well as bunches of beans for yourself. We encourage you to sign up for both Quaffle and Seeking!

The Quidditch World Cup kicks off today at 9 PM HOL time! But before the battle begins, let's go over the points breakdown for the tournament:

Quaffle

Each player will receive 5 points for participation

The winning team will receive 50 points

Snitch

Each player will receive 5 points for each match they participate in

Champion will receive 150 points

Runner-up will receive 80 points

Semi-finalists will receive 40 points

Quarter-finalists will receive 20 points

Mini-games

Each player will receive 5 points for each mini-game they participate in

For team games, the winning team will receive 25 points

For individual games, 1st place will receive 15 points

2nd place will receive 10 points

3rd place will receive 5 points

Similar to previous years, matches will be played in three 15-minute periods with two-minute breaks in between each period. Unlike previous years, lineups will not rotate during breaks -- that means no position changes!

The Quidditch World Cup of Summer 2017 started off with a bang this weekend!

On Saturday, the Bulgarian and Irish National Teams faced off for the first of three Quidditch matches. The most visible story of the game was the scoring race between Chasers Cody Lewis of Bulgaria and Will Lestrange of Ireland; after all, both Cody and Will managed to score on more than 2/3 of their teams' respective possessions. However, the defense had a role to play as well; every defender (Katelin Ross, Maxim Trevelyan, and Arielle Lemoyne of Bulgaria; Tarma Amelia Black, Vanessa Tilley, and Sirius Fudge of Ireland) managed at least one block!

When all was said and done, though, Cody beat Will in the scoring race by three; that, together with another goal by Chaser Shiloh Adlar (she had to beat Cody to score!) made the final margin 300-260 in favor of Bulgaria.

Special mention also goes to Alexander Brighton and Vanessa Tilley (both of Ireland) for their first times on the pitch, as well as Scarlet Leslie-Lewis of Bulgaria and Amy Lupin of Ireland for showing up despite not having access to their normal quality brooms.

The next day, the teams faced off again on the pitch for random one-on-one combat by the name of "CAB". The first game was played with the standard Quidditch set. Although everyone playing managed to score, Ireland comfortably won the first game, 30 to 15. But the second game was more exciting: the regular set was jettisoned in favor of a "cascade" set where the players had to guess which one of multiple correct answers counted. Moreover, the inventor of the set, Scarlet Leslie-Lewis of Bulgaria, flew into position to play for her team!

In a very hard-fought match, Bulgaria seemed to have the advantage most of the way, starting with the first point. However, Ireland was always close on their heels: never falling behind by more than four points and tying the game on eleven separate occasions. Finally, with the score tied at 28-28, Will Lestrange of Ireland edged out Maxim Trevelyan of Bulgaria on a rematch of a previous question to give Ireland the first lead of the match, 29-28. The next question featured Tarma Amelia Black of Ireland facing Cody Lewis of Bulgaria on the worst question of the set: "XXX-rated creatures". The two combined to name ten creatures in nine seconds, but the one that mattered, "shrake", was given by Tarma to win the match for Ireland, 30-28.

The following people played in the CAB games for Ireland: Aurelia West, Gail Allen, Sirius Fudge, Tarma Amelia Black, and Will Lestrange!
The following people played in the CAB games for Bulgaria: Arielle Lemoyne, Cody Lewis, Katelin Ross, Kendra Givens, Maxim Trevelyan, Scarlet Leslie-Lewis, and Shiloh Adlar!

This past weekend featured another round of very competitive games between Ireland and Bulgaria!

On Saturday, eight members of the Irish side and six members of the Bulgarian side met for a lively game of "HORSE", which requires participants to answer questions within thirty seconds (racing against others is immaterial for this). The first question - "What did Harry ask Ron, in OotP, that made him remember that Mrs. Weasley had wanted Ron to invite Harry to stay with them over vacation?" - made it clear that this would be no easy game: it was a full twenty seconds before anyone gave the answer, "How Ron was going to go home for Christmas", and only three of the fourteen participants avoided getting the first "letter" on that question! By the tenth question, only five people were left: Will Lestrange and Tarma Amelia Black of Ireland, as well as Scarlet Leslie-Lewis, Shiloh Adlar, and Maxim Trevelyan of Bulgaria. The fifteenth question took out Tarma, but it would be another twenty-three questions before Shiloh fell on the thirty-eighth. Three questions later Maxim was eliminated, and four questions after that (45 questions in total) Scarlet got her fifth letter... so the final standings were:

1st: Will Lestrange of Ireland2nd: Scarlet Leslie-Lewis of Bulgaria3rd: Maxim Trevelyan of Bulgaria

But the day wasn't over yet; not by a longshot! It was time for another match, with the regular question set swapped out for the special "Cascade" set (and Cody Lewis taking his turn as a player as well). At first, it seemed like the questions were getting easier: the majority of players identified "Antioch" as a Peverell brother and nearly everyone recognized "Hogsmeade" as a Gladrags location. But when it came to the third question, "first year textbook", literally no one knew which one the bot had in mind (and no one will ever know, because a redo was called on that question). This time, it took fifteen questions (not counting "first year textbook") to get down to five people: Will Lestrange stood alone for Ireland with Cody Lewis, Maxim Trevelyan, Scarlet Leslie-Lewis, and Shiloh Adlar representing Bulgaria. (Question 15, which knocked out both Amy Lupin of Ireland and Arielle Lemoyne of Bulgaria, asked us to give an XX rated creature; Cody was literally the only person who knew that the grindylow was the desired creature.) While Cody and Scarlet only had "R" (which meant they each could miss one letter and still win), the other three were one wrong answer away from elimination. After that, the eliminations came fast and furious: "Malfoy" (Scorpius) got Maxim (and gave Scarlet an S) on question 17, "Chapter 11 Title" (Hermione's Helping Hand) got Shiloh on Question 20, "Chapter 16 Title" (Professor Trelawney's Prediction) got Scarlet (and gave Cody an S) on Question 21, and "Patronus form" (horse) got Will on Question 23. In a game very strongly influenced by the whims of the Cascade course, the final standings were as follows...

1st: Cody Lewis of Bulgaria2nd: Will Lestrange of Ireland3rd: Scarlet Leslie-Lewis of Bulgaria

There was still time for more broom games after that! In a preview of the next day's games, everyone got back on their brooms for a game of Quodpot. Katelin Ross of Bulgaria was the first to get a question right (and therefore the first person eliminated); in a fast and furious game, Ireland cruised to a 27-13 victory when Shiloh Adlar of Bulgaria was eliminated, but Aurelia West, Patrick James, and Vanessa Tilley of Ireland were still standing.

The next day, it was time for a few more lively games of Quodpot, complete with exploding cauldrons.

Seven people on the Irish side showed up for the first game, along with five on the Bulgarian side. But the Quod was unusually explosive with four people knocked out in the first seven questions: Will Lestrange of Ireland, Cody Lewis of Bulgaria, and Tarma Amelia Black of Ireland got out in consecutive questions (#2, 3, and 4) while Vanessa Tilley of Ireland got knocked out three questions later. Two questions after that, Sirius Fudge of Ireland also fell, and suddenly there were more Bulgarian players than Irish ones left on the field (the score was 4-2 in favor of Bulgaria). The Quod now would spill blood indiscriminately from both teams: Arielle Lemoyne of Bulgaria and Amy Lupin of Ireland would fall within the next five questions, followed by Shiloh Adlar of Bulgaria two questions later. Amazingly, the next five questions went by without anyone exploding, but then it was time for Patrick James of Ireland to see an exploding Quod, leaving Gail Allen as the remaining player on the Irish side. Four questions later Maxim Trevelyan of Bulgaria got exploded, leaving Katelin Ross as the last one standing on the Bulgarian side. While Gail did a valiant job narrowing the score from 19-8 to 19-17, a two point question that would have tied the score exploded in her face instead, leaving Bulgaria as the winners of the first game, 19-17. (Ironically, the first person eliminated on Saturday's Quodpot game was the last person standing on Sunday's first one.)

An eighth Irish player, Aurelia West, then showed up just in time for the second game, which was no less merciless than the first one. While five questions went by without any lethal explosions (during which Ireland built an 8-2 lead), Will Lestrange immediately got knocked out on the sixth question; after two more "safe" questions, Cody Lewis and Tarma Amelia Black fell within 2 questions of each other. By four questions after that, with Bulgaria having taken a 9-8 lead due to Arielle Lemoyne's quick answers,Vanessa Tilley and Shiloh Adlar succumbed on consecutive questions. Then came a relatively safe period of ten questions where, despite two explosions, only Maxim Trevelyan was actually exploded. After Sirius Fudge took a Quod to the face, Ireland was primed to take a comeback, scoring seven unanswered points (via Amy Lupin and Gail Allen) while Arielle Lemoyne of Bulgaria was exploded, leaving Katelin Ross as the only one left representing Bulgaria (with Ireland now up 22-20). But then, with Patrick James and Amy Lupin exploding on consecutive questions, Ireland only had Gail Allen and Aurelia West still standing. Then, Katelin got Bulgaria within one point... but with Aurelia West scoring two points and Katelin Ross exploding, the game ended with Ireland winning 24-21.

A third game was to be played as a tiebreaker of sorts... but this time, using the notorious Cascade set. For once, Will Lestrange wasn't the first one knocked out: Cody Lewis and Aurelia West both saw a Quod to the face before it was Will's turn. But Will's explosion was the first of three consecutive exploding Quods; the next one got Maxim Trevelyan and the one after that exploded harmlessly, away from any players. (The game was tied 4-4 at that point.) Vanessa Tilley exploded two questions later; after four harmless questions came another pair of exploding Quods: one ignored by all the players and one that got Sirius Fudge. There were another seven questions before another explosion (while Tarma Black got Ireland out to a comfortable 19-11 lead) but momentum was stalled by Patrick James seeing another explosion. Momentum shifted when Shiloh Adlar and Katelin Ross combined for eleven unanswered points for Bulgaria, only stopped by Katelin Ross getting exploded by a Quod. (And even so, Arielle Lemoyne extended the 11 point run to a 12 point run.) Five questions later, with Tarma Black getting Ireland within one point (26-25) and Arielle Lemoyne exploding, leaving Shiloh Adlar as the only player left on Bulgaria compared to three players left for Ireland, it looked like Ireland's match. But there was still plenty of excitement left: Shiloh Adlar scored six unanswered points for Bulgaria (putting them up by seven). Little did anyone know that those would be the last points Bulgaria would score that match: after a bot glitch, Ireland got within three before two players were knocked out within a three question span. Lucky for Ireland, one of them was Shiloh Adlar (though Tarma Amelia Black fell herself)... and Amy Lupin managed another point between the explosions.

So at this point, Bulgaria had a 32-30 lead, while Ireland had Amy Lupin and Gail Allen still standing. Gail Allen got the next question to pull Ireland within one, but then came ANOTHER run of three consecutive explosions (one of which caught Amy Lupin). After waiting out a question on years, only a question on wand woods and a temperamental Quod stood between Ireland and a comeback win. With four seconds to spare, Gail gave the desired answer, "mahogany", ending the closest match of the day: 33-32 in favor of Ireland.

The following people played Quodpot for Ireland: Amy Lupin, Aurelia West, Gail Allen, Patrick James, Sirius Fudge, Tarma Black, Vanessa Tilley, and Will Lestrange!
The following people played Quodpot for Bulgaria: Arielle Lemoyne, Cody Lewis, Katelin Ross, Maxim Trevelyan, and Shiloh Adlar!

This weekend featured not one; not two; not even three... but four exciting games over the course of the weekend (if you count tiebreaker games as their own game)!

On Saturday, nearly a dozen Quidditch players flew onto the pitch for an exciting game of "monarch", which is essentially a game of free-for-all chasing: answer one question right and you become the monarch - while answering as the monarch gets you a point. Very early on, it became apparent that the game would become a duel between Cody Lewis of Bulgaria and Will Lestrange of Ireland; indeed, the game featured five ties and four lead changes between the two. Towards the end of the game, with Will up 13-12, the Monarch ball skipped a beat, with a two second delay between "2" and "1" during the countdown. That changed the pace of the match; Cody got four of the next five questions to edge out Will, 15-13.

But with no one else having scored any points, third place needed to be determined... so everyone but Cody and Will met for a quick tiebreaker round to 5 points. This round was much less close: Tarma Black of Ireland (the only other person to have reached "monarch" status in the previous match) shut out the rest of the field, scoring five points before anyone else reached one... securing third place.

The game then switched to "xany", a game where the first THREE people to answer questions score points. To make the game even more exciting, coming in first on any question was given a smaller premium than normal for coming in second. And exciting it was: four people (in order: Cody Lewis, Sirius Fudge, Arielle Lemoyne, and Will Lestrange) 'won' one of the first five questions! Although Cody had a 70-45 lead after winning three of the first six questions, six of the next nine went to Will. The scoreboard showed TWO ties: Will Lestrange and Cody Lewis both reached 150 points on the final question; Arielle Lemoyne and Tarma Amelia Black both exited that question with 45 points. The ties were broken by asking "who earned their points first?" The answers were: Will earned his 150th point exactly one second ahead of Cody doing the same... while Arielle earned her 45th point three questions before Tarma had hers.

The following people played on Saturday for Ireland: Aurelia West, Patrick James, Sirius Fudge, Tarma Amelia Black, Vanessa Tilley, and Will Lestrange!
The following people played on Saturday for Bulgaria: Arielle Lemoyne, Ashley Margaret, Cody Lewis, Maxim Trevelyan, and Shiloh Adlar!

Then, on Sunday, a dozen people flew out onto the pitch for the second Quaffle match of the season. While Will Lestrange would return as Chaser for Ireland, Cody Lewis's switch to Keeper for Bulgaria ensured that this match would be nowhere near the scoring race that the last match between the two teams had been. While no one really knew how the match would go ahead of time, everyone knew it would be exciting... probably even more so than the last one. There were three periods, each of which felt wildly different.

The first 15-minute period featured five ties: at 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50. But the end of the period belonged to Ireland, with Will Lestrange scoring four goals in a row on Cody Lewis causing Ireland to pull ahead to an 80-50 lead.

However, there were two more periods to play, and this would be as large a lead as any team would ever see. The second period was Bulgaria's: with Arielle Lemoyne and Scarlet Leslie-Lewis scoring three goals each for Bulgaria and Cody Lewis managing ten blocks on Will (Shiloh Adlar also managed one as Beater). Nevertheless, thanks to the solid defensive play of Aurelia West, Sirius Fudge, and Tarma Amelia Black, Bulgaria didn't manage to tie the game (100-100) until 13 minutes into the period, with a goal by Arielle. The final three possessions of the period resulted in goals for Will, Scarlet, and Will respectively, so Ireland still escaped the period with a 120-110 lead.

The third period was the closest period of the entire game, featuring ties at 120, 140, and 150. It was the most defensive-intensive period of the entire summer season, with "BLOCKS" being the story of the day. For Ireland, Aurelia West managed five blocks and Sirius Fudge managed another two as Beaters; to this, Tarma Amelia Black added another three as Keeper. For Bulgaria, Cody Lewis managed nine blocks as Keeper to which Shiloh Adlar managed another as Chaser. Nevertheless, the third period ended identically to the second; with two minutes to go, Arielle scored to knot the game at 140 (in a race on who could correct their spelling of "goblins" the fastest), and the final three possessions of the game resulted in goals for Will, Scarlet, and Will respectively. For those keeping track, Will's final goal broke the tenth tie of the game, giving Ireland a 160-150 win!

The following people played for Ireland: Amy Lupin, Aurelia West, Patrick James, Sirius Fudge, Tarma Amelia Black, and Will Lestrange!
The following people played for Bulgaria: Arielle Lemoyne, Cody Lewis, Katelin Ross, Kendra Givens, Scarlet Leslie-Lewis, and Shiloh Adlar!
PS: A special shout-out goes to Maxim Trevelyan of Bulgaria for stepping up to serve as referee to ensure that the game still happened!

At the end of the game, Ireland currently leads Bulgaria in the standings, 645-530. While there are two more broom games next week and another Quaffle match shortly after that, as well as three forum activities currently active, it looks like the Quidditch World Cup will be close enough to be decided in the way the 1994 Cup was NOT... by a race for the Golden Snitch!

The Quaffle didn't come out this weekend (though quite a few Snitches did). Instead, we all suited up for two of the most exciting broom games the bots had to offer!

On Saturday, in the words of an unidentifiable Gaelic poet, "the players assembled, not quite twelve hearty; then//they strapped on their cauldrons, stood poised to fly//At the sound of the horn, they were swiftly airbourne//but ten of their number were fated to death." Yes, that's right: the name of the game was Creaothceann!

We first played using the regular question set, with seventeen boulders released into the air. At first, the game seemed to be going Will Lestrange's way, with nine of the first thirteen boulders landing in his cauldron. But Cody Lewis then went on a run, with the final four boulders landing in his cauldron. Tarma Amelia Black also had a fine game, being the only other person to land a boulder in a cauldron. The final standings were as follows for the game:
1st - Will Lestrange; 2nd - Cody Lewis; 3rd - Tarma Amelia Black

The course changed to the turbulent, waterfall-filled terrain corresponding to the "Cascade" set in time for the next seventeen boulders. There were a few questions where the boulder shattered before it could reach a cauldron (namely, ones requiring us to spam XXX-rated creatures ad nauseam). When the game began, though, it was Patrick James and Katelin Ross who were in position to catch the first boulder; a race in which Patrick won. Due to the exciting nature of the Cascade set, the majority of players managed to get themselves in position to catch boulders: there was one question where Kendra Givens managed to identify a chapter title ahead of everyone who actually scored a point during the game, for example. With one question to go, though, Will Lestrange was out to a comfortable lead, with Cody Lewis solidly holding onto second, yet there was a three way tie for third, between Scarlet Leslie-Lewis, Katelin Ross, and Patrick James. When Patrick identified both daisy roots and Vaisey in the final question, he secured third place! The final standings were as follows:
1st - Will Lestrange; 2nd - Cody Lewis; 3rd - Patrick James

The following people played Creaothceann for Ireland: Patrick James, Sirius Fudge, Tarma Amelia Black, Vanessa Tilley, and Will Lestrange!
The following people played Creaothceann for Bulgaria: Cody Lewis, Katelin Ross, Kendra Givens, Maxim Trevelyan, Scarlet Leslie-Lewis, and Shiloh Adlar!

Then on Sunday it was time to play a new, exciting game: bludger dodgeball. Think "Quodpot with extra randomness, mixed with broom races, standard bludgers, and other trivia fun!"

The first game began with Ireland getting up to a 3-0 lead on the first two questions. It was the only lead Ireland would see that game; Scarlet Leslie-Lewis tied it up on the next question but was knocked out immediately after. After Cody Lewis took the lead on the next three questions, Will Lestrange was Bludgered after getting Ireland within two. Cody then got the next eight questions (and dodged THREE Bludgers) to build a 25-7 lead; though the next question went to Tarma Amelia Black, so did a Bludger to her face. The next five questions went to Bulgaria, with two Bludgers targeting Cody... one of which actually knocked him out (though Bulgaria had a 34-9 lead by that point). While Ireland got two of the next three, Sirius Fudge got Bludgered after closing the gap to 35-14. Then came Patrick James's turn five questions later (38-18 Bulgaria)... and then, after the next four questions went to Bulgaria, Arielle Lemoyne dodged successfully but Maxim Trevelyan did not. Two questions later, though, Arielle did get Bludgered... but not before giving her team a 46-19 lead. At that point, Alexander Brighton, Amy Lupin and Aurelia West were left standing for Ireland while Shiloh Adlar stood alone for Bulgaria, but Shiloh managed to dodge no fewer than three Bludgers while Alexander, Amy, and Aurelia all got hit (though Amy did manage to dodge one of the Bludgers in that part of the match). Final score: Bulgaria 72, Ireland 45.

We flew from California to the UK for the second game: in other words, we switched servers. With everyone a bit familiar with the game, it was time for a more exciting match! It began like the last match in reverse: Bulgaria got the first 2 questions and Ireland got the third to tie the game 3-3 before a Bludger knocked Will Lestrange out. The next three repeated the same way: 2 for Bulgaria, one for Ireland, and a Bludger knocked out Aurelia West with a 6-6 tie. Bulgaria got the next five questions in a row, building up to a 15-6 lead, along with two Bludgers to target Cody Lewis; he dodged the first one but not the second one. Maxim Trevelyan would draw two bludgers over the next five questions and dodge them both, but the next one out would be Sirius Fudge, at which point Bulgaria led 22-11. Five questions later, after a successful dodge by Scarlet Leslie-Lewis, Maxim Trevelyan was finally bludgered out of the game, and Bulgaria now led 28-14. The next three questions went to Scarlet Leslie-Lewis, but so did another Bludger. Ireland got the next two questions to 'close the gap' to 31-17, but Patrick James was Bludgered out, as was Tarma Amelia Black three questions later. At that point, with Bulgaria leading 33-18, only Arielle Lemoyne and Shiloh Adlar were standing for Ireland while Alexander Brighton, Amy Lupin, and Gail Allen were left for Bulgaria. When Shiloh Adlar, possibly the most nimble dodger in the game, finally saw the bad side of a Bludger, Bulgaria was up 37-23. Finally Arielle Lemoyne was hit by the next Bludger four questions later, but not before bringing Bulgaria to a 44-26 lead. At this point, only Irish players were left standing, but that didn't mean Bulgaria couldn't make their presence known! The next four questions saw two Bludgers, taking out Amy Lupin and Alexander Brighton respectively (at which point Bulgaria was still up by twelve, 44-32). Gail Allen would have to be even more nimble than Shiloh in order to erase a twelve point gap! But the game dragged on, slowly, and it looked like Gail would pull out the win nonetheless. With Ireland within one point of victory, though... the Bludgers exploded into a fireworks display and everyone celebrated. After the celebration, the match was ultimately awarded to Ireland... but stay tuned; we here on Quidditch Board are working day and night to rebuild the Bludgers into an even better game!

With the maze and fill in the blanks complete, it's time for the FINAL count of forum activities! In total, the following people have hosted or participated in the following number of forum activities:

Last Saturday saw the final meeting of the Irish and Bulgarian sides on the Quidditch pitch; just like the first match of the summer, it was to be a Quaffle match.

Just like the last Quaffle match, it almost didn't happen until Katelin Ross of Bulgaria volunteered her services as a Quijudge referee for the match. As the players lined up for the match, there was a mystery to resolve: would we see Bulgarian Quaffle star Cody Lewis Chasing like in match 1, or Keeping like in Match 2? When he showed up with a "C" next to his name, fans knew what to expect: a thrilling, high scoring Chaser race between Will Lestrange of Ireland and Cody Lewis of Bulgaria.

Although the first question probably could have gone either way, the first period of play essentially belonged to Cody. He only missed two questions all period; while one of them was a block by Irish Keeper Tarma Amelia Black, the second was still a Bulgarian goal by Scarlet Leslie-Lewis. On the Irish side, Will Lestrange was blocked twice by Keeper Maxim Trevelyan and once by Beater Arielle Lemoyne, but it should be noted that Aurelia West managed to also nab a goal for Ireland. The period ended with a 110-80 lead for Bulgaria, with Cody having the Quaffle in the scoring area.

The second period started with nine straight goals: five by Cody Lewis and four by Will Lestrange before Bulgarian Beater Arielle Lemoyne blocked the streak by ending an Irish scoring run. In fact, the next three Irish scoring attempts would also be blocked: by Arielle Lemoyne, Maxim Trevelyan, and Arielle Lemoyne respectively. During that time, though Ireland managed two consecutive blocks on Bulgaria, by Tarma Amelia Black and Patrick James respectively. At this point, Bulgaria had managed its biggest lead ever in Quaffle play, 180-120, but Will Lestrange scored on his final four possessions of the period (as did Cody Lewis) so at the end of the period, Bulgaria led 210-160, with Cody again having the Quaffle in the scoring area.

As far as Ireland was concerned, the only problem with the final period was that it wasn't long enough. Indeed, Will Lestrange was only blocked twice (by Maxim Trevelyan both times) en route to ten goals, and in position to take another shot on goal. By contrast, Cody Lewis was blocked four times: first by both of the Irish Beaters, Patrick James and Sirius Fudge, and finally twice by Keeper Tarma Amelia Black - en route to nine goals. The final score was identical to the first Quaffle match of the summer: Bulgaria 300, Ireland 260.

Despite the loss, Ireland still clings to a narrow 30 point lead for the Quidditch World Cup, with 1105 total points, compared with 1075 for Bulgaria. As predicted earlier, the final results of the Quidditch World Cup is going to be decided by the Golden Snitch, as three matches for the Seeker Tournament remain to be played.

For the first time this season, the upcoming Snitch matches will feature a duel between an Irish and a Bulgarian Seeker. In a rematch of the 2016 Finals, Scarlet Leslie-Lewis of Bulgaria will face off against Amy Lupin of Ireland. While Bulgaria will be hoping for history to repeat itself in that match, Ireland will be rooting for the past to FAIL to predict the future. But the other Semifinal match is just as exciting: Arielle Lemoyne of Bulgaria, the only Seeker to have made the semifinals in each of the past THREE Snitch tournaments, is going up against the 2015 Seeker Tournament champion Will Lestrange of Ireland. Stay tuned for the timing of the matches so you can support your team in #snitch!

The following people played Quaffle for Ireland: Amy Lupin, Aurelia West, Patrick James, Sirius Fudge, Tarma Amelia Black, and Will Lestrange!
The following people played Quaffle for Bulgaria: Arielle Lemoyne, Cody Lewis, Maxim Trevelyan, Scarlet Leslie-Lewis, and Shiloh Adlar!

Remember that "tomorrow" (Saturday, October 1) will feature a DOUBLE-HEADER to celebrate as summer turns to fall!

First, at 2:30 PM HOL in #snitch we will have the deciding match of the Quidditch World Cup from the summer: in a rematch of a match from the semifinals of last year's Snitch tournament, Amy Lupin of Ireland is facing off against Arielle Lemoyne of Bulgaria. The winning Seeker will fly off the pitch with more than just the Golden Snitch; she will also carry the Quidditch World Cup for her team!

Then, at 9 PM HOL in #quidditch we will have the first 'official' pickup of the 2017-18 season. Even if you haven't participated in the Quidditch World Cup (or in any Quidditch before), this is a great way to get started!

The Snitch Tournament has finally ended, and with it, the Quidditch World Cup - in a thrilling reversal of 1994! Fifty-five minutes into the final match, Arielle Lemoyne of Bulgaria beat out Amy Lupin of Ireland to the final Golden Snitch of the tournament, avenging her loss in the semifinals of last year's tournament. Unlike 23 years earlier, this gives the Quidditch World Cup to Bulgaria, 1160 to 1120.

To wrap up the Quidditch World Cup, let's say a few words about everything that went down.

SNITCH TOURNAMENT: There weren't that many surprises in the opening rounds of the tournament, but there were a few exciting matches nonetheless. Eight people ended up advancing to the quarterfinals: Amy Lupin, Aurelia West, Vanessa Tilley, and Will Lestrange on the Irish side and Arielle Lemoyne, Maxwell Shadow, Scarlet Leslie-Lewis, and Shiloh Adlar.
(The other four participants were Austin Ollivander Black and Kendra Givens of Bulgaria and Alexander Brighton and Sirius Fudge of Ireland; of them, Kendra deserves special mention for being the only person to face Arielle the entire tournament and NOT losing.)

The quarterfinals themselves were fairly smooth sailing with Amy, Arielle, Scarlet, and Will winning their matches... but then the semifinals got really exciting: in both matches, the first person to get Clue 5 was NOT the person who caught the Snitch. Arielle managed to erase a four-minute deficit against Will by solving more than twice as fast as Will in a very challenging puzzle; a month later, after a series of delays, Amy kept Ireland's hopes alive by erasing a nine-minute delay against Scarlet with an impressively fast solve of her own.

Finally, on the cold, bright autumnal morning of October 1, Amy and Arielle faced off on the pitch and, while Arielle was never more than a few squares ahead of Amy and both had the potential to solve fast, Arielle's solve (in under four minutes) meant that Amy wouldn't land on the final clue until Arielle was within two minutes of catching... which gave the Snitch, and the Cup, to Arielle Lemoyne of Bulgaria!

OTHER BROOM-RELATED STUFF: You've already heard all my writeups about all of the broom games, including Quaffle, on the pitch but a few things are worth noting:
-Bulgaria won the first and third Quaffle game and Ireland won the second (all were incredibly close, i.e. the largest margin of victory was 40 points).
-The most goals scored by a Chaser in Quaffle over the summer was Will Lestrange (with 67); the most blocks made by a Keeper in Quaffle over the summer was Cody Lewis (with 25 - and all in a single game!)
-Two players have really stepped up their game this past year and proved, over the summer, that they are likely to be major threats for their House teams in the near future. Both of them managed to place in a mini-game, as well as earn some impressive blocks against some of the top names in the game on the Quaffle side. Everyone should remember the names "Patrick James" and "Maxim Trevelyan"; we expect to see a lot of their dominance in the near future!
-We also have to give credit for a rising star on the Quijudge side of the field: Katelin Ross has really shown her potential as a referee, both in Quaffle and in Snitch! Good refs are surprisingly hard to find... so it's awesome that Katelin is added to that list!

The Quaffle and Snitch matches would not have happened at all without our referees, who are listed below:
Cody Lewis, Katelin Ross, Maxim Trevelyan, Rosalie Mason, Scarlet Leslie-Lewis, and Shiloh Adlar!